Delhi District Court
Krishan Murari Bangar vs Central Bureau Of Investigation on 20 February, 2020
IN THE COURT OF MS. NEELOFER ABIDA PERVEEN:
ADDL. SESSIONS JUDGE : (CENTRAL DISTRICT):
TIS HAZARI COURT:DELHI
Crl. Rev. No. 822/2018
Date of institution: 24.11.2018 Decided on: 20.02.2020
In the matter of :
Krishan Murari Bangar,
S/o Late Baldeo Prasad Bangar,
FR/o CPWD Bunglow No. 10/21,
Opposite MGM Medical College,
AB Road, Indore 452001.
Presently residing at
H. No. 14B, Shreeji Vatika,
Pipliyahana, Indore 452018 ....Petitioner
Versus
1
Central Bureau of Investigation
Spl. Crime BranchI,
Through its director
Head office Plot No. 5B
CGO Complex, Lodhi Road,
New Delhi 110003 ...Respondent
JUDGMENT
Present revision petition impugnes order dated 13.10.2014 passed by the Court of Sh. Puran Chand, CMM, Tis Hazari, Delhi in RC No. AC1/2011/A0008 whereby charge for offence under Section 120B, 217 and 218 IPC is ordered to be framed against the accused petitioner.
1. There is a brief backdrop to the present proceedings and of immense significance. One R.C. 6(S)/2010SCU1/C.N.I./SC1 dated 29.06.2011 was registered against K.M. Banger the present petitioner u/s 120B r/w 420/465/467/468/471 IPC for furnishing false caste certificate for employment as belonging to ST category i.e. Halba Koshti and investigation in this regard was conducted by Shri S.S. Ali, the coaccused in fact the main accused in R. C. No. AC1/2011A0008 out of which the present revision proceedings have arisen. Sh. S. S. Ali, 2 the then DSP C.B.I. and Accused No. 1 in the present case had recommended for closure of the case, the superior officials of C.B.I. being dissatisfied with the investigation took the investigation from teh hands of S.S. Ali and entrusted it to Inspector Vishal, who also filed closure report against the accused the present petitioner in view of judgment dated 28.11.2000 of Hon'ble the Supreme Court passed in Civil Appeal No. 2294 of 1986 in the matter of State of Maharashtra Vs. Milind and its implementation by the Government of Madhya Pradesh vide order dated 07.03.2011, which closure report was accpeted and acted upon by the Court and acceptance thereof not challenged by the CBI.
2. The R. C. No. AC1/2011A0008 is instituted upon the complaint of Inspector Vishal dated 12.09.2011 on the accusation that Sh. S. S. Ali, the then DSP entered into a criminal conspiracy with the present petitioner in order to save the present petitioner from legal punishment premised upon a set of allegations that in pursuance of aforesaid conspiracy, S.S. Ali visited the house of Krishna Murari Bangar (A2) in Indore, on 25.05.2010, 28.06.2010 and 29.06.2010 on the ptetext of examining and collecting specimen handwritings of the family members, whereas the same were not required for the purpose of invetigation. That his investigation has revealed that for the purpose of investigation, S.S. Ali had to visit Bhopal and Sagar. In 3 pursuance of aforesaid conspiracy, Krishan Muarai Bangar also got his Tour Programme approved on 29.06.2010 for the tour to Bhopal and Sagar. Both S. S. Ali and Krishna Murari Bangar reached Bhopal on 30.06.2010. On the same day, they proceeded for Sagar by bus and checked in at Hotel Devyog, Sagar at about 08:20 PM. They stayed together in a room No. 108 of the hotel from 30.06.2010 to 02.07.2010. During the vist, S. S. Ali recorded misleading/false statementsof certain witnesses, the presence of whom was secured by Krishan Murari Bangar, who also remained present during their examination. Both the accused checked out from the hotel together at about 03:30 PM on 02.07.2010. They reached Bhopal and checked in Hotel Rajhans, Bhopal at about 9:30 PM and stayed in Room No. 106 and 107 for a night. They checked out at 06:00 AM on 03.07.2010. That in furtherance of above said conspiracy, S.S. Ali during the investigation of case, examined the officials of Collectorate/Tribal Welfare Department, Sagar and Bhopal. Most of the witnesses did not identify the signatures/handwritings of the issuing authorities on the caste cetificates of Krishna Murari Bangar, whereas, S.S. Ali deliberately and in order to favour, recorded false and misleading statements of witnesses that they had identified the signatures of the issuing authorities on the Caste Certificates. That S.S. Ali submitted Final Report1 on 25.08.2010, concluding therein that the allegations that Shri K.M. Bangar, Asstt. Director MSME, Indore has submitted 4 false/forged ST Certificates to get employment in the Govt. Department could not be proved. He belongs to Halba Caste which comes under ST Category in Madhya Pradesh while Bangar is the gotra of the suspect. He recommended that the case may be closed as allegations mentioned in the FIR could not be proved and that the Supervisory Officers of the case were not satisfied with the investigation conducted by S.S. Ali and directed him toconduct further investigation to ascertain real caste of the accused. He collected land revenue, school/university records, birth and death records of the family of the accused besides reconstructing his family tree. In order to comply with the instructions, S.S. Ali visited Sagar from 22.09.2010 to 25.09.2010. In furtherance to aforesaid conspiracy Krishan Murari Bangar in connivance with S.S. Ali also put up another Tour Programme on 20.09.2010 to visit Sagar and other places from 21.09.2010 to 02.10.2010 and got it approved from Director, MSME, Indore. Krishna Murari Bangar reached Sagar on 22.09.2010 and checked in Room No. 203 at Hotel Devyog, Sagar at about 6:30 AM and subsequently shifted to Room No. 202. S.S. Ali also reached Hotel Devyog on same day at bout 01:40 PM and stayedin the Room No. 202 already occupied by Krishna Murari Bangar. Later both of them shifted to Room No. 107 and stayed there together up to 25.09.2010 till 2:00 PM. They checked out at 2:00 PM and reached Bhopal by bus on same day. S.S. Ali reached Delhi bynight train and Krishna Murari 5 Bangar reached Indore at about 1:10 AM on 26.09.2010 by Taxi but without visiting Jabalpur, Satna and Katni as per the approved tour programme. During the stay at Sagar, Krishna Muari Bangar influenced and secured the presence of witnesses. Whereas, S.S. Ali recorded misleading/false statements of the witnesses, who were under the influence of Krishna Murari Banger. S.S. Ali after conducting further investigation submitted supplementary final report on 06.01.2020 and again recommended closure of the case against accused Krishan Murari Bangar on the ground that there is no record or information in the university about the caste of Krishna Murari Bangar and accused belonged to Halba caste which comes under the ST category. Whereas, investigation condcuted by the complainant has further revealed that Late Baldev Prasd S/o Sunke Lal Koshti, the father of accused Krishna Murari Bangar was residing at House No. 37/35, Purbiou Tori, Sagar, Late Sunke Lal Koshti, grand father of Krishna Murri Bangar had four sons namely Sarau Prasad, Jamuna Prasd, Baldev Prasad alias Balli and Sudama Prasad, who have since expired. Late Sarau Prasad had one son namely Ram Gopal Bangar. Late Jamuna Prasad had one son namely Gulab Chand Bangar who has four sons namely Babu Lal, Rajender Kumar, Ram Avtar, Rakesh and late Satya Narayan. Late Baldev Prasad alias Balli had four sons namely Late Har Govind, Krishna Murari Bangar, Kailash Prasad and Brij Mohan Bangar. Late Sudama Prasad had four sons namely Uttam 6 Chand, Ram Narayan, Uma Shankar, Tej Ram and Dhani Ram. All the above relaties of accused Krishan Murari Bangar except Ram Narayan, Uma Shankar, Kailash Prasad have been examined in this case. All of them have stated that their caste is Koshti which comes under OBC category. Thus, it is proved that Krishna Murari Bangar actually belongs to Koshti Caste which comes under OBC but he got the ST caste certificates issued by misrepresenting himself to be a member of Halba Caste and used the said certificates for seeking Government employment. That investigation further revealed that as per Tax Assessment registers of Municipal Corporation, Sagar for Purbiou Tori, the ancestral house of Krishna Murari Bangar i.e. house no. 70 (changed from time to time) still stands entered in the name of Baldev Prasad @ Balli S/o Sunke Lal since the year 195455. The details of the Tax Assessment registers of Municipal Corporation, Sagar for Purbiou Tori ward since 195455 to 201213 clearly show that the caste of Late Baldev Prasad in the Municipal records of Sagar since 1954 to 1977 is shown as "Koshti". First time word Halba was added/inserted beyond the name Baldev s/o Sunke Koshti for the Tax Assessment records of 197778 to 198081. This shows that since 1954, the caste of father of Krishna Murari Bangar was Koshti and suddenly in 197778, it became Halba, when he had to take benefit of caste for seeking employment. Similarly, the word "Halba" was inserted in two more registers for the period 198183 7 and 198388, when subsequent ST certificates were got issued by the accused under ST category. In the Tax Assessment Registers for the period 1988 till 2008, again the caste is mentioned as Koshti but in the current register of 200809 to 201213, the ward "Halba" has again been added. That investigation has further revealed that S.S. Ali was directed to collect land revenue, school, birth and death records of the accused Krishna Murari Bangar to ascertain his caste. However, S.S. Ali did not conduct investigation on the above points in fair manner to save Krishna Murari bangar from Punishment. S.S. Ali visited office of the Commissioner, Nagar Palik Nigam, Sagaron 24.09.2010 and handed over letter dated 14.09.2010 to Shri Surya Bhan Singh, Commissioner, asking irrelevant questions. Investigation further revealed that S.S. Ali again visited office of the Commissioner, Nagar Palik Nigam on 27.10.2010 and inspected all the registers pertaining to Tax Assessment of Purbiou Tori Ward. After the inspection, S.S. Ali informed Shri B.C. Sahu (expired in November 2010) that the caste Halba Koshti is written against the name of Baldev s/o Sunke in the three registers but the same is not reflected in the current register. The words Halba Koshti was added by Shri Bhagwan Das Ahirwar, Tax Collector, ward Purbiou Tori, Sagar, at the insistent of S.S. Ali. Thereafter, S.S. Ali gave a requisition to provide attested copy of two registers for the period 197778 to 198081 and 200809 to 201112. The requisition was sent to the copying branch where Shri Ramendra 8 Bachkaiya, Clerk, prepared the "Nakal" of the first register of 197778 and sent back current register as there was cutting in the entry and Halba was written inthe column of house number, which is not admissible. Shri B.C. Sahu called Sh. Dmodar Prasd Thakur in his chamber and asked to strike off the word Halba & rewrite after the word "Koshti". Shri Ali told Shri Sahu to make correction otherwise, he would have to bring register at Delhi because he is going back to Delhi on the same day. Thereafter, as per the order of Shri BC Sahu, Shri Damodar Thakur struck off the word Halba written in the column meant for house number and wrote the same after the word Koshti in the presence of S.S. Ali. S.S. Ali deliberately and in order to avoid the chance revelation of the forced insertion of the word "Halba" in the said registers, obtained the handwritten copies of the entries, instead of obtaining either the original or certified copies thereof. That during the course of investigation, S.S. Ali visited Primary School Balak Shala, Purbiou Tori Sagar, Pt. Motilal Nehru Higher Secondary School Sagar, Sagar University to collect records pertaining to caste of accused but he deliberately did not collect record containing caste of accused and recorded the statements of witnesses in a distorted manner to favour accused, Krishan Kumar Bangar.
3. Ld. Counsel for petititoner submits that no complaint was ever made against him and even his name does not figure in the FIR.
9In the chargesheet, his name was deliberately incorporated despite the fact that he has no role in the commission of offence under Section 217 and 218 of IPC and due to the fact that the investigating officials could not corner him in the earlier FIR. That in light of the judgment of the Hon'ble Supreme Court and refusal of the petitioner to become approver or even a witness against S. S. Ali has landed him in soup for not cooperating with CBI against S. S. Ali. That in absence of any material bringing home or attracting the mischief of the Prevention of Corruption Act and provisions under IPC, the respondent could not have been prosecuted or tried for conspiring with other government officials for the commission of offences under the aforesaid provision. That first caste certificate of the accused was issued on 23.05.1978 of caste Halba (Khosti) issued by Dy. Collector, Sagar, M. P. Bearing ST Caste Certificate No. 222 dated 23.05.1978. That after joining, he was asked to produce ST certificate in the prescribed performa. Accordinlgy, a second ST caste certificate dated 20.03.1979 of the case (HalbaKhosti) was issued by Dy. Collector Sagar, MP. The third caste certificate was obtained from Anushuchit Janjati Vibhag, vide caste certificate no. 248 dated 25.02.1985 issued by Zila Sanjayok, Admi Jati Kalyan, Sagar, on the recommendation of Vidhayak Sagar and self oath. The fourth caste certificate was obtained from Nayab Tehsildar Bhopal, MP on 07.12.1989 showing his case at "Halba jan Jati" issued on the basis of ST certificate no. 248 dated 25.02.1985.
10There is no evidence on record that the caste certificate were not issued by the concerned authorities though an attempt was made to doubt its originality but no attept made to send the same to the CFSL as it would have exposed their own case that they had a grudge against S. S. Ali. That CBI has deliberately not sent Tax assessment register of 19771978 to 19801981 page no. 10 S. No. 99 of House No. 50/37 which clearly shows Halba written against Baldev Sunke Khosti, the father of the petitioner to CFSL and only the tax assessment register for th eyear 20032004 to 20072008 and 20122013 has been sent to CFSL examination for the reason best known to the prosecution and clearly hints malafide on the part of the prosecution. That Bhagwan Dass Arihar has specifically stated that he has written the word Halba on the Tax assessment register 20082009 to 2012 2013 but the CFSL has not supported this version and as stated that Damodar Sahu handwriting matches with the obliteration on the documents. That even in the service book of the petitioner, it has been shown that the he belongs to HalbaKoshti which is a schedule Tribe. That the CBI had recommended initiation of departmental proceedings against the petitioner and charges for forgery of the marksheet and school leaving certificate of class 10 th and higher secondary school certificate from Janta Higher Secondary School, Sagar, MP and undertaking official journy on false basis and inflated TA/DA bills in details, which allegations were found to be false and 11 baseless and petitioner was even exonerated of the all the charges. That there is absolutely no material to proceed against the petitioner for commission of any offence whatsoever.
4. I have heard both the Ld. Counsels and persused the record.
5. The petitioner is alleged to have entered into a criminal conspiracy with the coaccused S. S. Ali, the Investigating Officer in R. C. No. AC1/2011A0008, to save the petitioner from lawful punishment in the said R. C. No. AC1/2011A0008 in which case closure report was filed by the subsequent IO, in the Court and the Court accepted the closure report in R. C. No. AC1/2011A0008 which order attained finality and infact the CBI has no grievance in respect of the filing of the closure report in R. C. No. AC1/2011A0008 and acceptance of the closure report by the Court in the said case. One may ponder at the wisdom and lament at the futility of the proceedings against the IO in a case where the closure report has been filed in Court and accepted by the Court without any demerrour at the end of the prosecuting agency. However, there is one another significant backdrop bearing consequential relevance so far as the present revision is concerned. The present revision impugnes the order 12 framing charge dated 31.10.2014. The petitioner alongwith the co accused S. S. Ali is charged for offences under Section 120B read with Section 420/465/467/468/471 IPC. This order dated 31.10.2014 was challenged by the coaccused S. S. Ali by way of a revision petition which was dismissed and attained finality so far as the coaccused is concerned as after the dismissal of the revision against the order framing charge, preferred by S. S. Ali, no further recourse was availed there against. The petitioner is charged alongwith the coaccused of having entered into a criminal conspiracy and the previous challenge to the order farming charge at the behest of the coaccused has not found favourable outcome. The case of the applicant coconspirator cannot be placed on any separate footing and this challenge has necessarily to meet the same fate lest it shall amount to, in effect, recall / review of order dated 07.11.2017 passed in previous revision against the same order as assailed under the present petition.
6. The trial for a charge of conspiracy is incapable of being proceeded against one single accused for conspiracy need necessarily involve minimum of two accused and in the case at hand there are two conspirators, petitioner being one of them. Both the Ld. Counsels have drawn the attention of the Court to the caste certificates in question, the Tax Assessment Register. Reports and other material on the record. If I have to assess the legality or otherwise of the proceedings 13 conducted, documents obtained in the course of investigation of R. C. No. AC1/2011A0008 by the coacused S. S. Ali at the instance of the petitioner and to conclude that the proceedings were in accordance with law and could not be faulted with and that the certificates are genuine and any enquiry in respect thereof is inconsequential in the wake of the judgment rendered by Hon'ble Supreme Court of India in State of Mahrastra's case (supra), it would effectively impinge upon the credibility of the material against the coaccused on the basis of which the coaccused has been proceeded against. I would necessarily have to comment on the sufficiency of the material against the co accused also which would be uncalled for as the revision against the order framing charge preferred by the coaccused stands dismissed and it is neither proper nor warranted by law for this Court to recall/revise/review the order dated 07.11.2017 passed in the revision petition against the same order. The case against the coaccused, the material upon which the prosecution relies is so inextricably intertwined and interlinked that one cannot be proceeded against in the absence of another.
As the revision against the order framing charge preferred by the coaccused stands dismissed, no ground is made out to interfere with the order framing charge qua the petitioner, coconspirator, and it is for this reason the present revision petition stands dismissed.
147. Trial Court record be returned alongwith copy of the judgment.
8. File of revision petition be consinged to Record Room.
Announced in the open Court on this 20th day of Feburary 2020 (Neelofer Abida Perveen) Addl. Sessions Judge : (Central) Tis Hazari Courts, Delhi 15